Editor’s Note
This article describes a major theft at the Louvre museum in Paris, where thieves targeted the French Crown Jewels collection. The museum remains closed as authorities work to recover what are described as “priceless” items.
Police face “a race against time” to recover “priceless” objects stolen by thieves in a daring heist at the Louvre museum in Paris, Sky News has been told.
The world-famous museum was forced to close on Sunday and will remain closed on Monday after thieves accessed a gallery containing the French Crown Jewels at around 9.30am local time.
Art detective Arthur Brand said the heist is “the theft of the decade” – adding in order to recover the “priceless” items, police will need to find the culprits in just one week.
France’s justice minister, Gerard Darmanin, said the heist was a failure of the French security services.
Eight “priceless” objects stolen have been named by the French culture ministry. A ninth item was stolen but recovered at the scene, the Paris prosecutor said.
The French culture ministry said the items stolen were:
• Tiara from the set of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense
• Necklace from the sapphire set of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense
• Earring, from the pair belonging to the sapphire set of Queen Marie-Amelie and Queen Hortense
• Emerald necklace from the Empress Marie Louise set
• Pair of emerald earrings from the Empress Marie Louise set
• Brooch known as the “reliquary brooch”
• Tiara of Empress Eugenie
• Large corsage bow brooch of Empress Eugenie.
French publication Le Parisien previously reported that the object recovered at the museum was the crown of Napoleon III’s wife, Empress Eugenie, and it was broken.
French interior minister Laurent Nunez said the “major robbery” involved intruders entering the museum via a basket lift using a platform mounted on a lorry.
The interior ministry said the criminals fled on two motorbikes. No injuries have been reported.
The number of robbers has not been confirmed but Mr Nunez told France Inter that three or four thieves got into the museum.
The gang was well prepared and had scouted the venue, Mr Nunez said, adding they cut window panes “with a disc cutter” before escaping “on a TMAX”, a type of Yamaha maxi-scooter.
Forensic work is now under way and a detailed list of the stolen items is being compiled following the break-in, which took place between 9.30 and 9.40am (8.30-8.40am UK time).
Once in, they made for the Galerie d’Apollon (Apollo Gallery), home to a selection of the French Crown Jewels, the interior ministry said.
French daily newspaper Le Parisien, citing police, said the suspects wore hoods and were carrying “small chainsaws”.
The robbers reportedly escaped with nine pieces of jewellery, including a necklace, a brooch and a tiara from the Napoleon and French Sovereigns display cases, the newspaper reported.
Two suspects were inside while a third stayed outside, Le Parisien said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on X: “We will recover the works and the perpetrators will be brought to justice.
“Everything is being done, everywhere, to achieve this,” he added.
The Galerie d’Appollon is an enormous room on the upper floor of the Petite Galerie, which houses the French Crown Jewels as well as the royal collection of hardstone vessels, paintings, tapestries and medallions, the museum’s website said.